Gas-converting process.



PATENTED JAN. 14, 1908.

G. C. CARSON. GASYGONVERTING PROCESS.

APPLICATION FILED JUNElS. 1906.

' of deleterious gases GEORGE CAMPBELL CARSON, 01* DENVER, COLORADO.

eas-oon-vnzerms recesses.

Zo' al. who1n 'tmay concern:

Be 1t known that I, GEORGE CAMPBELL CARSON,

certain new-and usepreventing the escape into the atmosphere, as. well as recovering large losses which are made by smelters and other furnaces by allowing metallic oxide and other products Colorado, have invented improvements in combustion toescapewithout treatment and ing illustration, which ta e recovering the combusted elements therein. a r

My invention relates to a'process of treatin oxidsof metals and metalloids such as C S0,, As O PbO, ZnO, Fe() and Fe O by bringing them into contactw'ith heated carb'on whereby the oxide are reduced and carbon monoxid formed. g

'I will illustrate my process by thefolloware the reactions that place with all of the above named compoun s excepting sulfur, which I will ex plain. se aratel A be or bo y two separate chambers, chamber, that when carbon is fed from either end or side it will concentrate to a central point, Where a high temperature is main-.

tained, and the ashes from the consumed car-.

bon, as well as the metals reduced from their. oxids will-fallinto a body of water, and the such as arsenic, suliur,=

have. given up their gasified elements, or other elements-which oxygen to the burning carbon, can escape through chambers or niches inthe walls and condense in separate chambers, compart- 'ments, or be stored in reservoirs.

'through. I will assume In splittin the molecule of CO into 200 the rocess escribed below is followedfl T e gas, (30,, or'other gaseous oxide, is maintained under sufficient pressure to drive it through the body of carbon, vor else suflicient vacuum is maintained to draw it that it is desired to convert an atmosphere saturated wit'hCO into an atmosphere df CO. Thus :0ne unit of carbon combines with 2.66 units of or: gen, which, if taken from the atmosphere,

.w1 be mechanically mixed with 8.9 units of nitrogen, which will be 12.86 units of CO N atmosphere. This 12.56 units of CO +N atmosphere, if heated to 833 centigrade in the presence of carbon heated tothe same temperature will ive up 1.33 units of oxygen to'tne carbon w ch is added to the gas,

Specification of Letters Patent. Application filed June 18. 1906.

a citizen of the United States, who resides at theNew Broadway Hotel, Denver,

of carbon is so arranged in or in one elongated zcarboi with oxygen Patented Jen, is, race,

Serialll'o.322.235.

making an atmosphere of. 13.56 units of CO+N at a temperature of 833 centigrade,

or all told, 11295.5 centigrade inthe 13.56

units. There will be 2407f of this heat gener ated by the reaction of the 1.38 units of',

oxygen {in the gas combining with the one,

unit of carbon,: which is 11295.5, leavingj8888fi reaction. v i v v If the gas was allowed to escape with t heat it would require niense amount of carbon at the temperature to supply the heat away with the escapinggas;

eing carrie deducted ironif' to bring ahoutythe;

the burning of an iiioint oi but this heat I i is arrested by so charging cold carbon that the gas in passin through itas it escapes into the gas main, will give up its heat tothecold carbon, which in turn will'des'cend to the zone. of high temperature, and be available for bringing of succeeding units of gas; 1

about the subsequent reaction Ii the atmos here of 13.56 units of CU escapes irom-tu'efcold carbon at a reduced temperature of say 200, which would be" 2712? of lost heat,

from which should he (ta ducted the the unit of remain 305 tobe liberated hy'burninginitial other than that'oi the heat liberated by the reactionary carbon and 1.33 units of xygen,-' the zone ofhigh temperature, there would reaction; there would'also be imparted to the cold carbon 8593l5 whichis available for 1 maintainin 'wthe. high ternperafture necessary; 1

to create t e reaction;

a and if enough cold car-bonis carried m'stoclr to cool the escaping gas to the same temperature as the incoming gas then it will not he'necessarv to burn any zone of high temperature, and sufiicien t c hon burned to distil: or expel all of the gases t."

carbonat the oint of high temperaturapro the heat oi the teens ling gases,

or dist iing volaf tileoompounds from the cold carbon. 7

carhon fl;

and water in the cold carbon being-charged;

There'will be a large gain in heat by reconverting -smoke into CO, one atom of oxygen the carbon oijihe smoke then exists as ()0 which 1 I units, and the atom of oxygen which left the CO, and combined with an atom of'carbon in the incandescent zone, produces another molecule of 00 containing another heat for when 00, loses contains 5,673 heat value of 5673, making all told in the two molecules of CO a value of 11346'against 8080, which would have been available if the carbon used in splitting up the CO had been 5 burned direct to C0,, or a saving of 29 per cent. in heat is effected. 7

The oxids of lead, zinc and iron, in fact, all flue dust and gases from smelting furnaces, give up their oxygen in passing through incandescent carbon, and are reduced so that they will be recovered in the ash of the consumed carbon and condensing chambers.

I will further explain this process by referring to the accompanying drawing, which is a suitable apparatus for carrying on this process.

The smoke or gases containing the oxids to be treated enter achamber at a, which is supplied with cold carbon, which is charged in any way to prevent the escape of gas while charging, and are forced down through a bed of cold carbon into the incandescent zone shown at b, which has been created by forcing a blast of air into kindled carbon through the twyer 0. Here the following reactions take place:

CO +C C0, As O 30 2As 3C0, PbO C Pb j- CO,

280 SC 400 CS The molecule of CS is formed. on. the outer edge of the incandescent zone where the can bon is at a low red heat, but it is broken up into 0+ S as it enters the zone of high temperature, carbon being deposited and sulfur vaporized as the gases pass through the zone of iigh temperature. All of the elements reduced from the'gases as they pass through the zone of high'tcmpcrature, which fall into theesh of the consumed carbon, are washed th ough the grate bars with the ash by giving .tlie water which is used for a seal a me: than aiid are collected at "the bottom of the pit beneath the apparatus, and can be rernoved ior further treatment in the most convenient way.

A partof the elements accompanying the gas will be heated so high above their boiling points that they will be vapors, and will ascend with the gas in the second chamber through the cold carbon until they reach their condensing oint, where the gas is cooled enough to a low them to condense by 55 the cold carbon. At this point niches will. be made in thewalls of thesecond chamber to allow these vaporized elements to escape into a condensing chamber and condense. .The CO and nitrogen -will continue on up through the cold carbon and into the lead to the gas mains or reservoirs, where it is available for heating or lighting.

The carbon must be charged into the second chamberso as to prevent the escape of i made for carrying on this process.

gas, and suflicient carried in stock throu' h which the gas courses, to cool the gas to t e lowest possible temperature, andin such a manner that it will descend to replace the carbon consumed in the zone of high temper ature. The weight of the water 'used to seal the converter must be greater than the pressure of thegases in the chambers, so as to prevent the escape of gas; and the walls, as well as the charging apparatus,.must prevent leakage of gas. I

This process will not alone prevent the destruction of vegetation in the vicinity of smelting plants, but it will also prevent the smoke nuisance in cities and manufacturing communities. If tunnels are driven underneath the surface, and all smoke turned into such tunnels it could be drawn to stations where the uncons'umed carbon could be burned and the CO converted into 2C0 and used again.

1 am aware that none of these reactions are new, and that other inventors have tried to do what this process does, but have failed,

owing to the fact that they let their con verted gas escape without rescuing the heat that was being carried away, and the cdst of fuel to maintain a temperature to break up the gas molecules and reform the oxygen into CO makes them prohibitive.

Many different designs of apparatus can be Thus the blast furnace used in smeltin iron ore would make an ideal receptacle for holding the carbon, provided the gases to be treated were driven in through the twyers as is now done with the air. Also the pit beneath the in candescent zone can be made very deep so that the ash from the consumed carbon can be removed from the bottom' thereof at the rate which combustion supplies ash, and the water used as a seal for the bottom of the covering receptacle dispensed with, aswell as the grates to support the bed or body of carbon. Any chamber with a partition.

gas can pass, and which will separate the converted from the non-converted gas, will do for a converting chamber. which makesithe process operative is absorbing the heat carried away in the converted gas into carbon which is used to replace the carbon consumed in the incandescent zone.

()n the right side of the drawing is shown a condensing chamber with open parts, 1;. w. 00. as. opening into the converting chamber. These parts are placed in the wall where there is sufficient heat in the carbon to gasify sulfur and arsenic, but just below that point where these metalloids condense. What sulfur and arsenic pass through the ports will condense within the chamber, and that which condenses cm the cold carbon above will return with the carbon to a temperature where it will be gasilied again and The point e ultimately pass through the ports into the condensing chamber, where it uill condense, and can be tapped into molds at regular inlhcre will also be considerable sulseparate with the ash of the carbon, recovered from the pit beneath the rtcr with the ash. ving fully described my process, which i in as new and desire to secure by Letatcnt is: ii 1 he process herein described and maintaining a zone of high temperature Within a bed or body of cold carbon with a blast of air forcing or drawing a current of smoke or flue dust from smelting or other furnaces through said bod of cold carbon into said zone of high temperature, converting the metallic oxids in said smoke or flue d into metals and carbon monoxid, u ith c reaction beta een said oXids and said carbon converting the non-metallic oxids in l flue dust into metalloids and of creating smoke or carbon inononid, with the reaction between said (finds and said carbon allouing the metals reduced from said smoke or flue dust to settle with the ash into a body of iv'ater, allowing the gas to pass from said zone and ti: 'ough cold carbon, absorbing the heat from said gas with said cold carbon, maintaining said cold carbon by continuously clinging fresh carbon to said bed or bod y-of carbon, allowing metalloids to pass from said body of carbon into adjacent condensing chambers substantially as described.

'lhc process herein described of maintaining a body or bed of carbonwith a central zone of high temperature, forcing or drawing gases containing meta ll oids or metallic fumes through said bed or body of carbon and zone of high temperature, converting said gases into carbon monoxid, and cooling said carbon monoxid by leaving the heat of said carbon monoxid in cool carbon or outer zone of said bed or body of carbon,"re ducing metals and metalloidsfrom said gas, allowing said metalloids to pass through ports "or opening in vialls surrounding said bed or bod F of carbon, into condensing chambers, allowing said metals to settle With ash of consumed carbon from said body or bed into water, giving said \iater a jig mo tion, and washing said metals and ash into a pit beneath said body or bed of carbon, removing said metals and ash from said pit, substantially as described.

3. l i a current ofgr s and flue dust through a bed or body of incandescent carbon, reducing metals and metalloids from said gas and flue dust, collecting said metals and metalloids in the ash from said incandescent carbon and in condensing chambers, cooling said current of gas by passing it through cold carbon, which replaces consumed carbon in said incandescent zone, replenishing the consumed carbon of said incandescent zone with carbon heated by the current of gas leaving said. incandescent zone, substantially as described.

' 1E0. CAMPBELL CARSON.

"itnesses -WM. V. Wmcnr, M. C. MoCLAnY.

"l he process herein described ofpassinm 

